SSE How do I make characters play certain animations while speaking with the player?

[seanaes100]

Hello, rookie modder here.

I'm trying to create a mod that makes the actor play certain animations while engaging in dialogue with the player. (More specifically, I want the actor to play magic casting animations while talking to me.)

I know about the 'idle animations' in the dialogue box of the Creation Kit, but the idle animations I set there doesn't seem to play when the actor is talking with the player. (It does play when I create scenes with them though.) Moreover, there doesn't seem to be a working 'magic casting' animation among the idle list. (there is one idle named 'IdleMagic01' but that seems to do nothing.)

In short, this is what I'm trying to fix:

A dialogue between the player and Brelyna where Brelyna is supposed to make spell casting animations

Do I need a script to force animations to the speaker? If so, how do I create them?

Also, is there a way I can preview the various animations? Especially, some animations never seem to pause, like the wounded animations, and I'd like to know which animations do that or not beforehand.